Parkers’ Best First Car award goes to the Renault Clio

heat has once again partnered with Parkers – the definitive resource for car buying advice in the UK – to bring you the Best First Car award at its prestigious New Car Awards 2025. The winner is the Renault Clio, and it’s one of a total of 10 award-winning cars revealed today (October 21) by Parkers.

For anyone driving their first car, low running costs and cheap insurance are very important. Choosing a car that gets gas mileage and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg in monthly payments should be at the top of your shopping list, but smart looks and lots of technology that works are everything when you’re young. The Clio measures perfectly.

For 2025, the Renault Clio has been redesigned and represents even better value than ever. You get stunning new looks to go with a great interior upgrade as part of the upgrade package, and it can still be financed on a PCP deal from £160 a month – a bargain. The infotainment setup is brilliantly simple to use and extremely powerful too – perfect for heat readers.

The winning car was rigorously tested by the Parkers.co.uk team, who judged the best first cars based on a combination of value, quality, reliability, cost per month in finance deals and fitness for purpose.

Keith Adams, editor of Parkers.co.uk, said: ‘Earlier this year, we at Parkers grouped together a smörgåsbord of our favorite small cars, to determine which ones we really like best. The competition was strong, but we all agreed that the Renault Clio is simply the small car to beat in today’s market. It’s comfortable, well built and fun to drive, whilst also providing excellent value for money when hired into a finance business.’

Now in its eighth year, the Parkers New Car Awards 2025 reflect the ever-evolving views of Britain’s car-buying public, with the winners decided by a combination of the verdicts from the site’s expert reviewers across thousands of miles of road testing and the purchasing habits of the site’s 2.3 million users actively involved in the purchasing process.

More details about the Best First Car award can be found alongside all the Parkers New Car Awards 2025 winners on the Parkers website.